Ever since its season-opening loss to Taunton way back in early April, the Milford softball team has really turned on the jets, not letting any opponent stand in its way.

Jared Keene @jkeene11

TAUNTON — Ever since its season-opening loss to Taunton way back in early April, the Milford softball team has really turned on the jets, not letting any opponent stand in its way.

The Scarlet Hawks, who feature a potent lineup one-through-nine, two top-notch pitchers, and emphasize their focus on defense, ended the regular season winning 19 in a row. That number increased to 22 straight once second-seeded Milford beat Hopkinton in the Division 1 South semifinals, setting up a matchup with top-seeded Silver Lake in the sectional final.

And thanks to senior Ali Atherton's one-hitter, the Scarlet Hawks kept their win streak alive, while adding a sectional championship to their resume, with a 4-0 victory over Silver Lake at Taunton High's Jack Tripp Field on Saturday afternoon.

With the win, Milford (23-1) will meet either Billerica or Newton North in the state semifinals at Taunton High on Tuesday at 7 p.m.

“It's really great to get the win here today, but we're not done, we're not satisfied,” Milford coach Steve DiVitto said. “We have terrific kids that show up every day with a positive attitude and support each other. It makes the coach's life that much easier to come to the field every single day with a group of girls that want to be here and want to be with each other.

“And what can you say about Ali? It wasn't her greatest outing the other night, but then she comes out here today and has probably one of her better outings she's had in her four years. What a great job by her today and great job by our team.”

Silver Lake, which had scored 26 runs in its three previous tournament games, was coming off a semifinal victory over North Attleborough in which it put up a dozen runs.

But that didn't seem to phase Atherton, who is familiar with the Lakers from facing them in the tournament in three of her four years. Interestingly enough, she didn't record a single strikeout in Saturday's outing, but she faced just two over the minimum number of hitters in her effort, allowing just one walk in addition to the one hit. She was also extremely efficient, throwing just 81 pitches over seven innings, with six of her seven innings being 13 pitches or less.

The Southern New Hampshire-bound Atherton also had it going early and often, setting down the lineup in order over the first three innings. In fact, she went on to retire the first 13 batters she faced before Anna Battista broke up the perfect game by legging out an infield hit with one out in the fifth.

Backed by her defense, which was crisp throughout and helped her out with some tremendous plays, Atherton worked all of her pitches for strikes and located her pitches exactly where she wanted to put them.

“Coach DiVitto wrote up a whole scouting report for me, so I've been looking at that the past couple days,” Atherton said. “On the bus, I was thinking about how I wanted to throw to these girls. I've faced them enough to the point where I know how they're going to hit and what they want to do with the ball, so I knew where I wanted to locate my pitches.

“The low outside corner was crucial for me today, especially against the top of the order. They want the ball inside to pull, so my catcher (Emily Hartman) and I were working all game and we knew we wanted to stay low today.”

At the plate, Milford, which had 11 hits in the game and had scored 31 runs in its first three tournament games, got it going in the top of the third.

Number nine hitter Shannon Cormier led off with a single before Kate Irwin (2-for-4, run, RBI) reached on an infield single. Emily Piergustavo then advanced both runners on a ground out to first, which brought up Maggie Farrell (3-for-4).

The senior, who will play at St. Anselm College, worked a full count before lacing a two-run double to left center for a 2-0 lead. Two batters later, Trinity College-bound senior Kaitlyn DeCapua ripped a single to center, which plated Farrell for a 3-0 lead.

The Scarlet Hawks added to their lead in the sixth on a bases loaded RBI single from Irwin.

With the win, Milford won its first sectional title since 2013, the year the Scarlet Hawks also won a state championship.

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